Pints With Aquinas - 19.5 What did you do that made St. Bonaventure tear up his manuscript?

Episode Date: August 11, 2016

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Welcome to Pints with Aquinas, episode 19.5. I'm Matt Fradd. If you could sit down with St. Thomas Aquinas over a pint of beer and ask him any one question, what would it be? Today, we'll ask St. Thomas the question, what did you do exactly that made St. Bonaventure rip up the prayer he wrote for the Blessed Sacrament. Welcome back to Pints with Aquinas. This is the show where you and I pull up a barstool next to the angelic doctor and discuss theology and philosophy. Before we get into today's discussion, I wanted to tell you about something really cool that just happened.

I have released a new book called Pints with Aquinas, 50 plus deep thoughts from the angelic doctor it's published by mckillop press and you can get it on amazon right now here's why i put the book together many people are too intimidated to even begin reading Aquinas one because it's Thomas Aquinas. How could I possibly understand him? Two, because he writes a lot and there's no pictures in his books. And three, because of the way he writes. He uses all sorts of complicated language and he's kind of a dry writer, to be quite honest with you. This is why there aren't many Thomas Aquinas Twitter accounts out there. He doesn't write poetically, to say the least. But I know that there's a lot of people just like you who want to understand Aquinas Twitter accounts out there. He doesn't write poetically, to say the least. But I know that there's a lot of people just like you who want to understand Aquinas. And, you know, buying

the Summa isn't an option. And maybe even Peter Kreeft's Summa of the Summa is still enough to kind of give you a mild heart attack. But Pints with Aquinas, the book is not, okay? I've broken it up into chapters such as God, Jesus, grace, virtue, the sacraments, happiness, alcohol, and more. And you can sit down with a pint of beer and just read one deep thought at a time. So, each deep thought, you know, approximately, it's about 200 to 500 words. So, it's kind of like reading a blog from St. Thomas Aquinas. And I think you're going to really like it. It's only about 120 pages. It's put together really beautifully. The front and back cover look awesome. Check it out. There's a, you know, beer, as you can imagine, and Thomas Aquinas on the front cover. And then throughout

the book, I actually also teach you about the main types of beers, and it's done really artistically. So, you'll get to learn, you know, what a lager and an ale and a stout and a porter and all these sorts of things are as you're learning about St. Thomas Aquinas. So, I will put the link to this book in this description of the podcast. I'll also be talking about it on my Twitter account, Facebook, and Instagram. I know that the book will bless you, but you will also bless me by buying it because I really appreciate your support. I get so many tweets and emails and messages from y'all, but buying this would help me and my family financially. So, if you want to do that, please, that would be great. And then if you do get the book, make sure you take a photo of you and a pint of beer so I can retweet it and share it with all

of my followers. Okay. Now, let's talk about today's topic. We're not going to be looking at the Summa Theologiae today. Just a quick podcast. I want to share something really cool that took place between St. Bonaventure and St. Thomas Aquinas that not a lot of people know about. Who is St. Bonaventure? Some of you might be wondering. Well, St. Bonaventure was born just a few years before St. Thomas Aquinas. I think it's three or four years before Aquinas. And they actually both died the very same year in 1274. St. Bonaventure was a Franciscan. He was a bishop.

He is a doctor of the church as Aquinas is. So you might say that Bonaventure is the Franciscans St. Thomas Aquinas. Now I'm sure the Franciscans will take issue with that. They might like to say that Thomas Aquinas is the Dominican's St. Bonaventure. But anyway, a really smart guy. Bonaventure and St. Thomas Aquinas knew each other. Okay. Now, what happened was in 1264, Pope Urban IV instituted the Feast of Corpus Christi, which is Latin for the body of Christ. So, it was a feast to commemorate the Eucharist. And the Pope wanted a special mass and office written especially for this new feast. And so, what he did is he commissioned both St. Bonaventure and St. Thomas Aquinas to write these prayers. And he said that he would then listen to them and decide between the two.

So when the day came, he invites both St. Bonaventure and Thomas Aquinas to the Vatican. How cool would that be, by the way? Can you imagine Thomas Aquinas and Bonaventure walking together? They've got their prayers under their arms. Now, Aquinas goes first and he begins to read his prayer. Now, while he's reading his prayer, it is said that both Pope Urban IV and Saint Bonaventure were listening with tears welling up in their eyes. And Bonaventure very quietly began to tear up his manuscript into small pieces. When St. Bonaventure's turn came, he admitted, you know, he said, here's what I did. I'm no longer, the manuscript's no longer an option. And he said that he did it because St. Thomas's prayers, this hymn, was much better than his. So, that says two things, I think. One,

Thomas Aquinas, you know, brilliant intellect, writing beautiful, moving prayers, but it also speaks of the humility of St. Bonaventure. Now, I found a really cool image of this event, and I'll put a link in the description of the podcast, so you can click and check it out. Now, I couldn't track down exactly which, you know, I think it was a number of prayers perhaps that Thomas Aquinas recited, but here is one of his which I would like to just close with today and I hope it'll bless you. This is called Adoro te devote. Now, I'm sure it's much more beautiful in the Latin. And I could read the literal English translation, but instead I'd like to read a poetic translation by Edward Caswell. Here it is.

O Godhead hid, devoutly I adore thee, who truly art within the forms before me. To thee, my heart, I bow with bended knee as failing quite in contemplating thee. Sight, touch, and taste in thee are each deceived. The ear alone most safely is believed. I believe all the Son of God has spoken. Than truth's own words there is no truer token. God only on the cross lay hid from

view, but here lies hid at once the manhood too, and I in both professing my belief make the same prayer as the repentant thief. Thy wounds as Thomas saw I do not see, yet thee confess my Lord and God to be. Make me believe thee ever more and more, in thee my hope, in thee my love to store. O thou memorial of our Lord's own dying, O bread that living art and vivifying, make ever thou my soul on thee to live, ever a taste of heavenly sweetness give. O loving pelican, O Jesu Lord, unclean I am, but cleanse me in thy blood, of which a single drop for sinners spilt in ransom for a world's entire guilt. Jesu, whom for the present veiled I see, what I so thirst for, O vouchsafe to me, that I may see thy countenance unfolding, and may be blessed thy glory in beholding. Amen.

A beautiful prayer, and maybe having read that, it's a little more understandable why Bonaventure did what he did. That said, of course, St. Bonaventure's writings and prayers are magnificent also. And if you're not familiar with Bonaventure, maybe just type into Google Bonaventure's prayers or something like that. Anyway, you'll hear from me this coming Tuesday. We'll be discussing the attributes of God. But in the meantime, please rate the podcast. Please, please, please buy a copy of Pints with Aquinas, the book. You'll love it, I'm sure. And tell people about the podcast. It's been, again, I know I said this earlier, but it's been a tremendous joy doing this. To all of my listeners, thank you for your support.

and this to all of my listeners. Thank you for your support. Again, I get emails, tweets. I can't reply to all of them, but I read them all and I'm very thankful for them all. And yeah, that's it. God bless you guys. And thanks again.

As we wrap up here today, why don't we rock out to my sister's song, Finish Dreaming. Look her up, Emma Fradd. See ya. To carry you To carry you And I would give My whole life

To carry you To carry you To carry you To carry you To carry you To carry you To carry you To carry you To carry you Too many grains of salt and juice I took you in Too many grains of salt and juice Lest we be frauds or worse accused

Hollow me to deepen in you Whose wolves am I feeding myself to Who's gonna survive Who's gonna survive Who's gonna survive And I would give my whole life to carry you, to carry you And I would give my whole life to carry you, to carry you And I would give my whole life To carry you, to carry you

To carry you, to carry you To carry you There were birds in your tears Falling from the sky Into a dry riverbed That began to flow down to A cross town high up above the water And maple trees surrounded it leaves caught flame with golden embers